The Rat Craze

Everyone loves a good story, and since the Panthers haven't had too many of late, here's an oldie but a goodie.

My friend Dave Sheinin came across Scott Mellanby's one-timer of a poor rat inside the Miami Arena locker room during the 1995-96 home opener. Thought some might enjoy reading the story that started it all. So here you are. Dave, by the way, was The Herald's golf writer at the time. Ended up moving on to cover the Marlins, then took on the Baltimore Orioles for the Washington Post. He's currently the Post's national baseball writer.

But he still asks about the Panthers whenever I see him. He loves the rat story. And, why wouldn't he?

Mellanby, of course, went on to score two slightly
more conventional goals in the first period of Sunday night's game. He had a
few more chances during the rest of the game, but couldn't convert another.

And so Mellanby still has never scored a hat trick
in his 10-year career, and the Panthers have never had one in their history.

"Yeah," joked Vanbiesbrouck, "but he
scored a rat trick."

Mellanby's two goals were almost picture-perfect
twins. Both came in the first period. Both answered Calgary goals and tied the
score. Both came on power plays. And both were on deflections.

The first came on a blast by Magnus Svensson from the
left point, the second on a shot by Jason Woolley from just inside the blue
line.

The Panthers' point men have taken the coaching
staff's advice and are firing away from the point on power plays to make things
happen.

"Woolley was teeing it up from everywhere,"
Panthers Coach Doug MacLean said. "Gord Murphy, Svensson -- they all did a
great job, and Mellanby scored on two nice deflections."

Eleven times in club history, a Panthers player had
scored two goals in a game. And 11 times, they failed to get the hat trick.

But when Mellanby scored his second -- with 3 1/2
minutes remaining in the first period -- he admits the thought crossed his
mind.

"When you score two in the first period like
that, you think about it," Mellanby said. "I've never had one in my
career, unfortunately."

And he had his chances. On another power play in the
second period, he took a feed from Murphy in the slot and found himself open,
but he didn't get off a good shot. On the same power play, he took another feed
from Rob Niedermayer outside the crease, but missed the empty side of the net.

"I should have buried that one," Mellanby said.
"I guess that shows it wasn't meant to be."

By converting two of his three shots-on-goal, Mellanby
seems to have put his scoring jinx of 1994 behind him. Last year, he led the
team in shots but was just third in scoring. He converted only 10 percent of
his shots. At times, he got frustrated.

This year was almost guaranteed to be different.
MacLean put him on a line with the rejuvenated Niedermayer and the talented
rookie Radek Dvorak. "Those guys are both extremely talented
players," Mellanby said. "I'm sure I'll get my
chances."

That line got shut out Sunday night, but Mellanby made
up for it with his power play goals.